“We were at this place in Rice Village, and I saw him chatting with some friends,” Avery said during a break in preparations for Sunday's game against the Texans. “I stopped and said, ‘Excuse me. I'm Donnie Avery. I go to the University of Houston. I just wanted to tell you you're a beast out there.'”

Avery, who played at Hastings before becoming one of the nation's best receivers for the Cougars, has patterned himself after Johnson — on and off the field.

“That was my first time to meet an NFL player,” Avery said. “He was the most humble person in the world, very down-to-earth. He made a good impression on me, and I ran with it.”

Avery ran with it all the way to St. Louis, which selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft. He was the first receiver picked.

Avery is such a big Johnson fan that he can recite his statistics.

“I've been amazed by Andre since he was first picked by the Texans in '03,” he said. “He had 976 yards as a rookie. I looked up to him, and I watched him on Sundays.

“When they let the fans watch practice at training camp, I was always there watching him and learning from him.”

As a first-year pro in 2008 Avery caught 53 passes — the most by a Rams rookie receiver since 1996 — for 674 yards and three touchdowns. This season, he has 39 catches for 510 yards and five touchdowns.

“When I see Andre, I tell him how amazing he is,” Avery said. “I tell him what a stud he is.

“He knows me. Now, I don't know if he knows me as being a bug or something like that.”

As in bugging Johnson?

Hardly. Johnson was flattered and a tad embarrassed when informed of Avery's comments after practice on Wednesday.

First meeting recalled

“I remember,” Johnson said when asked if he recalled Avery's calling him a beast after introducing himself. “At the time, I didn't know who he was. But I watched him at the University of Houston, and he became a very talented receiver.

“Hopefully, I'll see him before the game when we're on the field warming up. I'll definitely speak to him after the game and give him words of encouragement.

“Maybe we can exchange phone numbers. You definitely want to help in any way you can when somebody looks up to you.”

When Johnson was developing into one of the top receiver prospects in the country at Miami, he watched Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens.

In 2005, Rice's last season in the NFL, he came to the Texans' training camp with the Denver Broncos. Johnson asked for his advice, and Rice gave it to him. Johnson never turns away a young receiver.

“If a young receiver like Donnie comes to speak to me after the game, I tell him congratulations first of all just for making it into the NFL, because I know what it takes to get to this point,” Johnson said. “I just tell them to make sure to keep working and do the same things they did to get to this point, not to slack off, and to turn it up a level.

“I'm a fan of the game. I like to see other receivers do well. If they make a nice catch, I tell them. I'm not rooting for them, but you have to give credit where credit's due.”

The Rams have fallen on hard times since their Super Bowl years under Dick Vermeil and Mike Martz. They are 1-12, tying Tampa Bay for the worst record in the league.

11-game home skid

The Rams have lost 11 consecutive games at home. In Avery's two seasons, St. Louis is 3-26.

Perhaps Johnson can talk to Avery on how to survive and excel in a losing atmosphere.

“Yeah, it's been kind of rocky, but at the same time, it's a learning experience,” Avery said. “The roller coaster goes down, but it also goes back up. And when it does, I'll be right there riding with my team.”